to tell you the truth, i had forgotten all about these pictures and the fact that i hadn’t written about it yet

Lily began her christmas break from school on wednesday the 19th and she and William drove straight to west virginia to go spend some days with family

because i was still working full time, i was originally supposed to be working during the holidays so they were to return on the 23rd and we were going to have a quiet family christmas at home here in asheville

however, my work schedule changed (i am no longer working full time) and because they were having such an amazing time with family in west virginia, i ended up driving there myself on the day they were supposed to leave

it must have been around november when Lily told us that she no longer believed in santa because all of her good girlfriends in school had told her he was not real

that she knew it was William and i who were the real santa

fair enough. she found us out

we told her that although papa and i help santa, his magic and the magic of christmas is indeed real

on christmas eve, surrounded by family, snow falling and with her smaller cousins believing and excited for santa, her views changed

out of the blue she felt excited about the magic of santa and just like all the previous years she could not wait to get home to her grandparents house, write santa a note and leave milk and cookies for him and carrots for the reindeer

i am not going to lie, it felt good to have her believe once again

it made me feel like she is still the child i see in her despite how big she seems these days

although i was less invested in celebrating the holidays this year, we had ourselves a magical white christmas in west virginia surrounded by family